Committees of inquiry were rarely set up until 20 years ago, and have been used increasingly in the recent past, dealing with matters deemed of major public concern or apparent governmental failure.
June 6, 1985: Parliamentary inquiry commission to the causes, the circumstances, and the lessons that should be drawn from the tragic events that took place on May 29, 1985, during the football match between Liverpool and Juventus Turin (the Heysel Stadium disaster).
March 17, 1988: Parliamentary inquiry commission for the study of the range, the causes, and the results of possible fraud and of possible violations of the Non-Proliferation Treaty by the Studiecentrum voor Kernenergie (SCK), and related companies (see the Transnuklear scandal).
June 13, 1995: Parliamentary inquiry commission to look into the necessary adjustments in the organisation and workings of the police and justice system, based on the difficulties that arose during the attacks of the Nijvel gang.
April 7, 1987: Parliamentary enquiry commission to research the circumstances in which Belgium would have been involved in trade and trafficking of weapons and munition, either directly or indirectly, to countries the government has decided to place under embargo.
March 23, 1988: Parliamentary inquiry commission to research and evaluate the guidelines regarding to nuclear security, the measures taken for education and protection of the population, and the means of evacuation in case of elevated radioactivity within the country's territories.
The Belgian branch of Operation Gladio was a secret military unit trained to form a resistance movement in the event of a communist invasion by the Soviet Union.